Monthly Archives: November 2008

November 30

Okay, I’m totally freaking out. All my friends are fighting at what’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year!

You guys know that my group of friends is really tight, right? We have each others’ backs no matter what. At least we did until this weekend. Now Chloe and Sam are in this huge fight. And they’re practically insisting that the rest of us choose sides.

It all started with a text message Chloe sent to Liza on Saturday about how she thought Sam was showing off by singing and playing piano when we were hanging out at her house on Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately, Sam happened to be sleeping over at Liza’s house when Chloe sent the text. Sam and Liza have the exact same pink slider phone, and by mistake, Sam picked up Liza’s phone. So it was Sam who clicked on the text message and, well, I guess you can figure out what happened next. Sam was really insulted by what Chloe had written. Chloe was mad that Sam had intercepted the message, and angry that Liza had let her intercept the message (even though that was totally not Liza’s fault at all). So now Chloe isn’t talking to Sam or Liza, and Liza and Sam aren’t talking to Chloe.

Considering we all sit at the same lunch table, you can imagine just how uncomfortable fifth period was this afternoon. It got to the point when Carolyn said something to Liza, Chloe got mad at Carolyn. Then when Marilyn said something to Chloe, Sam got mad at Marilyn. Somehow Marc, Josh, and I managed to stay out of it (we just talked to each other) but that can’t last forever. Sooner or later Chloe, Sam, and Liza are going to insist we choose sides, and I just can’t do it. I like all of my friends. And besides, this fight has nothing to do with me!

I think this is what my mom was talking about when she told me life was a lot easier when she was a girl and there were no cell phones at all. Don’t get me wrong. I like texting people. It’s fun and it’s fast, and you can talk to your friends without anyone else hearing your conversation. But texting can also be dangerous. People don’t think before they text. And when you can’t hear the expression in someone’s voice, you can totally misread their meaning. (Although I’m not sure there was any way anyone could have misunderstood Chloe’s meaning. Calling someone a show-off is pretty mean, no matter how you say it.)

My friends have gotten in fights before, and we’ve always managed to make up sooner or later. It’s just that with the holidays coming, and all of us planning to do stuff together over winter break, I don’t want to be fighting now! I want to be having fun—ice skating, sledding, and celebrating with all of my friends, at the same time.

Any ideas on how we can get Chloe, Liza, and Sam back to being friends—fast?

November 1

Hi, there! Jenny here. I’m back to give you the latest news from Joyce Kilmer Middle School. Last time I blogged, I was telling you about how I wanted to have a hayride for Halloween but Addie wanted our school to have a traditional Halloween dance. Well, we wound up having a dance, like Addie wanted, instead of a hayride. It turned out the hayride would have been really expensive, and the whole chance-of-rain thing kind of freaked people out, so I didn’t get my way.

I was actually okay with that, though, because Halloween night turned out to be so awesome. We didn’t just have the Halloween dance, we had a total Fright Night. While the music and dancing were going on in the cafeteria, the kids on the Student Council were busy in the gym with our really creepy haunted house. It was so amazing. We turned out the lights and played spooky music with scary sound effects. As kids walked through the haunted house, we made them touch wet, gushy eyeballs (they were really peeled grapes), and slithery, slippery worms (which were really limp spaghetti noodles). That stuff grossed a lot of people out, even though I think they knew it wasn’t really eyeballs and worms. The best part came as our friends walked through the dark, ghoul-filled gym—oops! I mean haunted house. Everywhere people turned, monsters jumped out at them in the dark. (Okay, the monsters were really just student council members dressed in creepy costumes, but in the dark we were really frightening!) Personally, I loved scaring the Pops. They were acting so cool, and talking about how babyish a haunted house was—and then BAM! I popped out at them in my mummy costume. Sabrina and Dana totally freaked out. Of course they denied it later, but I knew what had happened. And so did everyone else who was in the haunted house at the time.

Now that Halloween is over, everyone is all into Thanksgiving mode. At our school, the Thanksgiving theme is Giving Thanks by Giving Back. So we’re doing all sorts of community service projects. Next week, my friends and I are taking part in a walkathon to raise money for kids who have serious illnesses. We have to walk five miles. That’s a lot of walking, but it’s okay with me, because we’ll raise money for every mile we walk.

The Pops are running a clothing drive for our local homeless shelter. They’re asking people to donate clothes they don’t wear anymore. They’ve been getting a lot of stuff—mostly jeans and t-shirts, but some nice dresses and jackets from parents and teachers. I’m glad the Pops are finally able to do something good with their love of fashion. Usually they’re just obnoxious about it. (Which is not to say the Pops aren’t still obnoxious. They are. Just not about their community service project.)

Do you guys do any community service stuff at your schools? What’s your favorite way to help out? I’m looking for good ideas for next time, so please let me know.